Cardboard boxes will be in The Phantom Pain, in some form

Despite being absent in Ground Zeroes, Kojima will still include the iconic cardboard box in The Phantom Pain, because he missed them. This he told Did You Know Gaming in a video interview.

‘Cardboard boxes will be in The Phantom Pain, but in a way that they don’t conflict with the tone of the game.’ Kojima explained. ‘The same goes for al these quirky, funny elements that are characteristics of Metal Gear games.’

Kojima said he’s still trying to include these kind of elements, but maybe less frequently and in submissions, to make sure they don’t break the serious tone.